The effects of organization and spatial design of Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas on their ecological performance

Marine Protected Areas are being implemented worldwide showing the evidence of clear benefits for target species and ecosystems. Despite their potential, both ecological and socioeconomic responses to protection vary dramatically from place to place. Some studies provided the evidence of a number of factors explaining this variation (e.g. enforcement, habitat types), but most of the variability in MPAs outcomes still remains unexplained. The goal of our project is to investigate other possible sources of variability at a number of Mediterranean MPAs. We posit that a key uninvestigated source of variation may be linked to the management, the design and, more specifically, the organizational aspects of MPAs. This study, hopefully, will achieve the important result of improving the available scientific knowledge about the performance of Mediterranean MPAs. A new point of view in MPAs science will be developed thanks to the interaction of two different disciplines: ecology and organizational analysis.